Part of the Meet Marple project.
Semitone Studios: Meet Taylor, the musician behind Marple’s popular and collaborative musical hub.
Name of business:
Semitone Studios
Where did the name come from?
I knew I didn’t want to name it after myself because I wanted to stress the collaborative, and for it to be bigger than me. I chose “semitone” because I didn’t want a musical term that was too general – or too niche! A semitone is the smallest interval between two notes, which reflects what we’re about – taking that next step of progress, no matter how small it may be, as it’s different for everyone.
What do you offer?
We offer music lessons, recording sessions & production, and we’re also a music venue providing live entertainment, and participatory live music too with our open mic nights. At the moment we offer ukulele classes, and I run 3 choirs in the local area too. I take a lot of joy from helping people with music – from experienced professionals to willing amateurs.
How many people are in your team?
Myself (Taylor), my core team of 4 including my husband, and we have 8 tutors who work from here too.
How long have you been open?
Semitone was established in Compstall in 2013 but we’ve been in Marple for almost 8 years now, January 2017. I’ve been a musician forever though!
Are you from Marple?
Not quite – I’m actually from upstate New York! I moved to Stockport in 2009, and I moved to Marple in 2016.
What do you like about having your business in Marple/living in Marple?
So many things! I like that everyone has so much to give and is so supportive when you want to share it. It’s a very wholesome, collaborative community.
Is there anything exciting going on at the moment?
We have a few spots left on our very popular ukulele courses with the Plucky Goat Ukulele School, for both youths and adults. We also have our new voice teacher, Ruby, who has some spaces left for now too.
You can find Semitone Studios at 130 Stockport Road, and at https://www.semitonestudios.com/, on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/semitonestudios/) and on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/semitonestudios ).
